Plywood wall construction



/ 1943- R. H. B'REN-T 2,332,052

PLYWOOD WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 27, 1942 2 Shee'ts-Sheet l I INVENTOR.

A TI'OE'NE K- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. H. BRENT PLYWOOD WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed April 27, 1942 Oct. 19, 1943.

15 INVENTOR. 1& M

ATTORNEK Patented Oct. 19, 1943 UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE PLYWQOD 'WALL CONSTRUCTION Roy H. Brent, Greenfield, Wis., assignor to Harnischleger Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis., a

corporation of Wisconsin Application April 27, 1942, Serial No. 440,624

This invention relates to wall constructions employing panels composed of spaced interior and exterior sheets of plywood secured to the opposite sides of studs and it resides in a novel combination of interfitting alternately thicken and thinner panels and connecting studs which provides the requisite horizontal flexibility in the direction of the wall to prevent buckling under horizontal dimensional changes which occur due to atmospheric changes particularly in the exterior plywood sheet. Another aspect of the combination is its adaptability to the employment of seam battens the material and fastening means of which are disposed to employ the strength thereof to maximum advantage in resisting curling of the Another object of this invention is to provide a specialized panel joint in combination witha seam batten in such form that increased resistance to curling of the panel edge and lifting of the batten and its fastenings is obtained.

Another object of this invention is to provide a plywood panel house construction which is effective and pleasing in appearance.

The above and other objects and advantages of this invention will appear for the description of the invention which follows. The following description is set forth with the aid of the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which there is shown by way of illustration and not of limitation one instance of the embodiv ment of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of on form of house" constructed in accordance with this inventionj Fig. 2 is a detailed, fragmentary sectional, plan view,'taken at the plane 2-2, indicatedin Fi 1;

Fig. 3 is a detailed, view in" front elevation,"

with parts broken away of a thick panel utilized in the house shown in Fig. 1, and;

Fig. 4 is a detailed view, in front elevation, with parts broken away of a thin panel utilized in the house shown in Fig. 1. I

Referring now to the drawings there is shown in Fig. 1 a conventionalized house which is provided with walls constructed in accordance with this invention. The house shown in Fig. l is supported upon a foundation l of any suitable construction. Rising from the foundation l are a series of vertical wall panels which are alternately thicker and thinner. The thicker panels are designated by the numeral 2, while the thinner panels are designated by the numeral 3. At the corners of the house corner posts I are provided.

Mounted upon and supported by the walls and. I corner posts. is a roof structure 5 of any suitable configuration.

As pointed out above this invention is concerned with the construction of the panels 2 and 3 and with the manner of joining the same as shown more clearly in Fig. 3. The panels 2 are formed of an exterior sheet of plywood 6 and an interior sheet of plywood 1 these sheets being held in spaced apart relationship by vertical studs 8 and the joining studs 9 and further by the horizontal spacer members III, II and I2. This structure has a hollow box-like, form and if desired the air spaces within may be filled with a suitable insulating material. It is contemplated that the sheets 8 and I are' to be very intimately and securely fastened to the several members lying between the same. While such fastening may b accomplished in a wide variety of ways, I prefer to employ for the purpose a thermal-setting adhe-' sive such as a phenol-aldehyde cement. When the plywood sheets are thus secured to the spacer membersan unusually high degree of rigidity of the panel results. The degree of rigidity thus attained is far in excess of that obtainable by nailingv or other ordinary weather proof means of fastening. While the extreme rigidity *thus providedis of distinct advantage in attaining a strong and durable houseconstruction with the use of a minimum quantity ofmaterial, such extreme rigidity introduces a problem not ordinarily encountered in other types of construction of substantially thinner than the adjacent panels 2. The panels 8 are similar to the panels 2 in construction in that vertical studs 13 and horizontal spacer members II are employed and interior and exterior plywood sheets I5 and i6 respectively are secured to these members by gluing in the same manner as'is employed in the case of the panels 2, however the transverse dimen-.

sions of the spacer members II- and i4 is substantially less than the transverse dimensions of the spacer members employed in the panels 2. This relationship is evident from the showing contained in Fig. 2 where it can be observed that the stud i3 is considerably narrower than the eflective width of the stud 8. In Fig. 2 the glued connection between the stud II and the plywood sheets II and It is indicated by the short vertical hatching lines and in like manner the glued connection between stud I and the plywood sheets I and I is also shown.

Referring further to Fig. 2 it will be noted that the stud I is provided with an extension ll of reduced width which is adapted to be received by the in edges of a panel 3. Successive panels are thus assembled and held in place by fastening means I. as shown. The portion of the stud l disposed beyond the extension I! is of reduced section and thus is able to flex and to accommodate for longitude dimensional changes in the plywood sheets I and It. The scope of this flexure is indicated roughly by the dotted lines in Pig. 2. It is evident that such flexibility could not be secured if the plywood sheets and II were to be joined in direct end to end relation- P- If preferred in order to complete the panel junction a rabbeted batten II is nailed in place by means of nails 2| which are driven in a direction which has a substantial component in the direction of the wall. The batten I! has its greatest depth nmning transversely of the wall. By so proportioning the batten and so fastening it in place the slight curling of the end of the plywood sheet I 8 between the fastening means II is effectively restrained. This is in direct contrast to the flat batten normally employed to cover a flush type of joint: such battens are normally fastened in place by nails which are perpendicular to the wall and when curling of the edges of the plywood sheets occurs the nails are easily displaced and the battens are easily flexed with the result that curling of the edge of the plywood sheet is very little restrained'and the weather tightness of such a joint becomes impaired shortly after the erection of the building. In contrast with this my improved panel joint remains weather tight to a much higher degree.

While this invention has herein been described by reference to a specific embodiment of the same it is evident that the form of the ame may be varied within wide limits without departing from the principle thereof. It is my intention therefore that the protection to be granted hereon be 1 'limitedbythespeciflclnstance of embodiment set forth herein. My intention being that the protection granted shall extend to the full limit of the inventive advance disclosed herein as set forth in the claims appended hereto.

That which I claim as my invention is:

' 1. In a wall construction, the combination comprising a plurality of adjoining panels each having spaced interior and exterior sheets, spacer members within said panels secured to said sheets, the edgesof said panels adjacent to one another being alternately thicker and thinner by a substantialammmhamarginalstudsecuredtothe thicker panel edges said stud having an extension projecting beyond the edge of the panel to which it is secured and into and between the edges'of the sheets of the adjoining panel said extension having a transverse dimension substantially less than the spacing of the sheets of said thicker panel edge and equal to the spacing of the sheets of said thinner panel edge so as to form in said stud a second extension at right angles to said first extension which may flex in the longitudinal direction of the wall, the same having a transverse extent at least twice the thickness of said exterior sheets, and fastening means engaging the edges of the sheets of said thinner panel edge for securing the same to said first-named extension.

2. In a wall construction the combination comprising a plurality of adjoining panels each having spaced interior and exterior plywood sheets, spacer members between said sheets and united thereto by gluing, the edges of said panels adjacent to one another being alternately thicker and thinner by a substantial amount, a marginal stud secured to the thicker panel edges by gluing, said stud having an extension projecting beyond the edge of the panel to which it is secured and into and between the edges of the sheets of the adjoining panel said extension having a transverse dimension substantially less than the spacing of the sheets of said thicker panel edge and equal to the spacing of the sheets of said thinner panel edge so as to form in said stud a second extension at right angles to said first extension which may'flex in the longitudinal direction of the wall,

the same having a transverse extent at least twice the thickness of said exterior sheets, and lastening means engaging the edges of the sheets of said thinner panel edge for securing the same to said first-named extension.

3. In a plywood wall construction the combination comprising a pair of adjacent panels each panel being composed of spaced interior and exterior plywood sheets with studs between the same connected thereto the spacing of the plywood sheets of one of said panels being greater than the spacing of the sheets of the other of said panels by an amount several times the thickness of said exterior sheets, a joining stud cemented in place between the edges of the sheets of said thicker panel along the side thereof adjoining said thinner panel, said joining stud having an extension projecting beyond the edges of the panel to which it is cemented and into and between the edges of the sheets of' said thinner panel, said extension being transversely positioned with respect to said thicker panel so as to hold the interior sheets of said panels in substantial alignment and to hold said exterior sheets in planes oflset from one another with a portion of said joining stud extending transversely beyond said thinner panel, means for securing said thinner panel to said extension, a batten having a face in contact with the exterior sheet of said thinner panel and a face in contact with the portion of said joining stud which projects transversely beyond said thinner panel, and fastening means for said batten penetrating the same and said joining stud and disposed in a direction having a substantial component parallel to said panel sheets.

' ROY H. BRENT. 

